


Warehouse Body

by perpetuallyfrowning



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetuallyfrowning/pseuds/perpetuallyfrowning
Summary: Kite gets a call from two hunters.





	1. Chapter 1

Kite folded his hands under his chin and stared across the coffee table at the two hunters. They sat next to each other on the couch, stiff and uncomfortable.

This house and all its furniture had been provided weeks ago by the Hunter Association, right after Kite was "born." His caretaker, Colt, had rearranged everything obsessively until the place looked less like a hotel and more like a home.

There were still a few children's toys wedged into random corners that Kite did not remember playing with. As soon as he regained conscious awareness he'd focused all his efforts into a makeshift katana, practicing martial arts movements.

(This new body was durable and designed for survival, but it didn't have the muscle memory of his old one—years of training and mastery, gone in a breath. He'd have to rebuild it all over again.)

He remembered the frustration he'd felt at Colt for calling him 'Reina,' the strange inability to hold back his emotions. Yelling, "It's Kite!" over and over. "It's KITE!" He'd been gripped by terror, trapped in the wrong body, called by the wrong name with the wrong gender. All of it wrong, wrong, wrong.

The shorter hunter on the couch, the one dressed in a white overcoat, shifted restlessly, not knowing what to do with his hands. He would alternate between crossing his arms or smoothing out his enormous pompadour, sometimes jiggling his knee or turning his entire body to glare out the window. His mug of hot tea was left untouched on the coffee table.

The taller hunter with purple braids was motionless by contrast, sitting rigidly upright and refusing to relax back into his armchair.

"And...Shoot McMahon, was it?"

The man nodded tersely, his face permanently drawn with some sort of inner tension.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you both."

Knuckle coughed. "We, ah, came on some personal business." He balked when fixed with Kite's impassive gaze, but relaxed when Kite remembered to give a small, friendly smile.

It was difficult to gauge what effect this new face had on people. His old one never had such problems; though he'd always kept the upper half of his face hidden by shadow under his hat, people still found him approachable. But now they would be startled whenever he looked directly at them.

He wondered if it was the girl's eyes. They often startled him in the mirror. 

He'd considered asking Colt to take out all the mirrors in the house so he wouldn't have to see her anymore, but decided against it. Too cowardly. Ging wouldn't have let him do that, Ging would have forced him stare into every reflective surface in the house until he accepted her eyes as his own. Until he didn't even remember his old face anymore.

That had always been his master's way: Teach someone how to swim by throwing them in the water, they'll have to figure it out or drown.

Ging must have been told what happened but he still hadn't visited Kite. He never would. Kite would have to find him. He knew Ging wouldn't care one way or the other about his new appearance, about "being a girl," or the new Ant strength, only what he able to do with it. If he could become better, faster...maybe he could impress him...

Knuckle continued.

"You see, the reason we're here is, ah, well, we're not exactly sure what you want done with your—your old, uh, well, um...not sure how to put this..."

It seemed this man struggled with tact. He'd tried his best, but being careful and slow was too difficult for him. Because he quickly threw all pretense of sensitivity out the door when he drew in a breath, knitted his brows together, glared at Kite as though ready to punch him, and in a loud, booming voice full of bluster and confidence said,

"What I'm trying to say is, your dead body's still moving around. It's in a warehouse back at the base, and we need to get rid of it!"

Kite blinked.

"Yeah! Um," Knuckled coughed, and his frown deepened. "The ants made it into a weapon. We thought it would die after we defeated them, but apparently the nen's still active and attacks anyone that comes near. Thought it was you when we first found it so we were sorta guarding it, I mean not us personally because we were too busy trying to save the world and all, I mean, uh, just, uh... Right, Shoot? I'm saying all this right, aren't I?"

Next to him, the hunter Shoot pursed his lips even thinner. This one didn't like to talk much.

Knuckle nodded to himself. "Right, yeah. But now the Association's thinking it needs to be destroyed. Still kinda feel like it belongs to you though, so that's what why we came here to tell you."

Kite was quiet. In another room Colt could be heard opening cabinets and setting down metal pots.

He looked up.

"Can I see it?"

Knuckle gulped, unsettled by the eye contact. Kite remembered how it was for him when he looked into the mirror, those huge purple eyes, turned on him, nearly glowing with an indifferent kind of judgement. Both appraising and condemning his existence, as if he'd stolen something not his.

"I would like to see it before it's disposed of, if that's possible."

"O—of course, yeah, that, uh, that can definitely be arranged. Heck, we can take you over there now if you like."

Knuckle glanced over at Shoot, who nodded in affirmation.

"In that case, we should head out," said Kite.

Standing up, he opened the front door for the two hunters to exit before him. One glance into the kitchen revealed Colt fiddling with something on the stove. They made eye contact and Colt inclined his head in understanding. He'd heard everything.

Kite closed the door, and followed the two hunters out to the car in the driveway.


	2. Chapter 2

As predicted, the ragged, stitched up monster in the warehouse came flying at them the moment they entered its vicinity. 

Its swings were wild and unpredictable, the thing nearly beating itself senseless even as it aimed for the three intruders. Knuckle and Shoot dealt with it while Kite stood back and watched.

He had to leave immediately. He felt sick and didn’t understand why. Outside the entrance he was breathing heavily, hunched over like he was going to vomit.

Something was horribly wrong and he couldn’t wrap his head around it. It was ridiculous for him to react this way, and yet…

“Hey, you okay there buddy?” 

It was the hunter Knuckle. He reached out to pat Kite’s shoulder, and that was when things went from bad to worse.

Kite’s head whipped around and his teeth sank in and sent hot blood spilling everywhere, soaking the top of his shirt and dripping to the ground. He made an inhuman snarl.

Knuckle yelled and the other hunter, Shoot, came running before suddenly hesitating at the doorway. 

Kite’s jaw still had a hold on Knuckle’s hand, and his rat tail thrashed while he reached up to claw Knuckle’s throat. 

Shoot visibly quivered as a green light glowed from him, and a small cage and three hands morphed into view. And then everything went blank.

. . .

Later that night, when it was dark, Kite was curled up under his blanket in his room. Colt was walking around the room, adjusting things and putting them away into drawers. When he seemed to be finished and about to turn off the light, Kite spoke.

“Wait.”

Colt stopped and waited, standing by the side of the bed. But Kite did not say anything else. So Colt said,

“Do you want to talk about what happened today?”

Slowly, Kite nodded, and Colt sat down on the blanket. He reached out to rest a hand on Kite’s arm before Kite made a quiet sound of warning—a growl. Colt withdrew his hand and Kite shook his head in apology. 

“I’m…sorry. I don’t know why I’m acting like this.”

Colt considered. “It’s alright. You never really liked me touching you, not even when you were born I think. I’m sorry, I should have known not to do that.”

Kite frowned. “Did I bite you? When I was a baby?”  


“Well, when you were big enough to make sounds, you would warn me off. And then, when you began practicing with that plastic sword and saying your own name, you had no hesitation about hitting my legs if I came too close."

“Oh. Ah, sorry about that.”

“It’s alright, I think you were still upset with me for calling you ‘Reina’. I just thought…I think I remember…in my past life, someone used to wrap their arms around me…and it made me feel better, so I thought it might comfort you just now. That’s why I tried to do that.”

Kite was silent.

“I'm sorry, I did not mean to make you upset,” said Colt.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just…I don’t know why I’m reacting like this. I don’t know why I bit Knuckle Bine today, or why I…do that whenever you come too close. It doesn’t make sense.”

Colt tilted his head. “It might make sense. Considering our species.”

“All the ants react this way, then?”

“No…only some of them. In my squadron, some could remember their past lives. I can't really, most of it’s just fog. Very few of the soldiers remember everything in perfect detail. One said it was like a dream he had while he was forming in his egg sac.”

Colt paused, seeming to consider his next words. 

“There was one soldier…I was angry with her because she'd always run off at inconvenient times. I thought she was undisciplined. When I ordered her to explain her behavior, she mentioned…loud banging sounds from her past life. So that now, whenever she heard a loud bang, she'd run.  She told me she believed she was killed by one of Zazan’s soldiers, who used a gun to hunt down humans.” 

Colt looked away and the side of his jaw twitched with anger. “I knew that one. He was a greedy pig who ate most of them himself instead of bringing them to the queen for nutrition."

Kite sat up. “So maybe then my reaction has something to do with my past death?”

“Yes, that’s what I think.” Colt said. “Do you remember it?”

Kite closed his eyes. He remembered the fight with the ant. He remembered sensing its approach and acting on autopilot, trying to get the boys out of the way of danger, and his arm being ripped off. The assassin kid had been smart enough to knock out Ging’s son and run, and he remembered feeling grateful for that. 

He remembered the bad spin, remembered realizing he was going to die, and accepting it. Just trying to distract the monster long enough for the boys to get away. Letting the thing play with him like a cat plays with a mouse.

When he saw his dead body in the warehouse today…it was so obvious it had been ripped apart and then sewn back together. 

Piece by piece, the ant had swiped at his body and torn off chunks. First from his torso. Then from his thigh. Monstrous paws and claws, tearing away at him like he was made of nothing. A memory of Ging’s voice had been in his head, instructing him, telling him how to move, giving him commands, and he’d never been more grateful for his mentor’s guidance than at that moment. It had been the fight of his life, he still managed to keep going with three of his ribs missing. With one leg gone. 

The ant never took his other arm because it wanted to keep playing for as long as possible. The delighted light in its eyes…

Unexpectedly, Kite realized he was crying now. 

Colt’s face was twisted up in worry and concern, but out of respect he made no move towards Kite. Just sat and waited. 

When it was over, Kite rubbed away the burning tears with the edge of his sheet. Colt got up and brought a box of tissues for Kite to blow his nose.

“Thanks.”

Colt nodded. “Do you want me to turn off the light now?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

The lamp chain clicked, and the room went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knuckle and Shoot are both fine, btw. Knuckle just needed some stitches.
> 
> In the next chapter Kite will face his dead body again and we will see its reaction to him, inspired by one of the two lovely comments from the first chapter. Thank you for your interest!


End file.
